President Barack Obama speaks about college financial aid at Henninger High School in Syracuse, N.Y., Thursday. / Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press

Written by

Lisa Fingeroot | The Tennessean

and Tennessean news services

White House college plan

• Follow Tennessee example and pay for performance • Hold students and colleges responsible for progress toward a degree • Give clear information on college performance • Allow federal loan borrowers to cap payments at 10 percent of monthly income • Reach out to struggling borrowers and make sure they know about repayment options Source: The White House

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President Barack Obama’s call on Thursday for states to follow Tennessee’s lead and award greater funding to colleges that show results with students pushed the state’s evolving education policies into the national spotlight once again.

Obama urged other states to follow Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio in offering more funds to colleges that do a better job of preparing students for graduation and a job.

He also proposed a broad new government rating system for colleges that would judge schools on their affordability and could be used to allocate federal financial aid.

“We can’t price the middle class — and people working to get into the middle class — out of a college education,” Obama said during a speech at the University at Buffalo.

Tennessee is in the third year of linking funds for public colleges to student outcomes — including progress toward graduation and actual graduation rates — instead of how many people fill the seats.

University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro said his system has made “steady strides in many of the areas” outlined by Obama because of the 2010 funding act.

Reaction mixed

Obama’s proposed overhaul faced immediate skepticism from college leaders outside Tennessee who worry the rankings could cost their institutions millions of dollars.

Leaders inside the state had a different opinion, though.

“What President Obama introduced seems to fit with what we’re doing here in Tennessee already — focusing on student success and funding outcomes,” said John Morgan, Tennessee Board of Regents chancellor.

“As a state, we’re in a good place to compete favorably in terms of focus on performance.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill weighed in quickly with criticism — even one from Tennessee.

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, cast the proposal as government overreach and suggested a state-by-state approach would be better.

“Washington needs to be careful about taking a good idea for one state and forcing all 6,000 institutions of higher education to do the exact same thing, turning Washington into a sort of national school board for our colleges and universities,” Alexander said.

Rep. Ron Kline, R-Minn., who chairs the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said he is “concerned that imposing an arbitrary college ranking system could curtail the very innovation we hope to encourage, and even lead to federal price controls.”

The president said he expected pushback from those who have profited from the ballooning cost of college. But he argued that with the nation’s economy still shaky and students facing increasing global competition, making college affordable is “an economic imperative.”

Costs escalate

Declining state funding has forced students to shoulder a bigger proportion of college costs in recent years. In 1986-87, students paid only about 28 percent of the cost of their education at Tennessee public colleges, according to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Now, they pay close to 70 percent.

The cost of attending college is increasing faster than the prices in any other sector of the national economy, said Will Doyle, a Vanderbilt University professor whose research focuses on the rising costs of a college degree.

Obama said his plan has two other goals: encouraging schools to innovate and compete for students, and helping students manage their loan debts.

Software noted

In a fact sheet released by the White House, the Obama administration also recognized software developed at Austin Peay State University by faculty member Tristan Denley.

Denley’s “Degree Compass” system helps students choose classes that move them toward a degree while also finding courses in which the student is expected to do well.

The program draws on the past performance of the individual student as well as other students in thousands of classes, and works in a way similar to the way the music provider Pandora moves users toward music they might like.

Denley was just named vice chancellor of the board of regents on Monday. “It has been a kind of crazy week, but I’m excited,” he said.

USA Today and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Lisa Fingeroot at 259-8892 or at lfingeroot@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaFingeroot.